Actuatable occupant restraint systems are used to help protect occupants of a vehicle in a vehicle crash event. Such actuatable occupant restraint systems may include an inflatable occupant restraint device, such as an air bag, to help protect a vehicle occupant upon the determined occurrence of a vehicle crash event.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,182 to Foo et al., assigned to TRW Inc., discloses a method and apparatus for determining such crash events and is particularly directed to discriminating a vehicle crash condition using virtual crash sensing. U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,225 to Foo et al., assigned to TRW Inc., discloses a method and apparatus for controlling a multistage actuatable restraining system in a vehicle using crash severity index values. U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,539 to Foo et al., also assigned to TRW Inc., discloses a method and apparatus for controlling a multistage actuatable restraining device using crash severity indexing and crush zone sensors.